1. Field
The following description relates to the provision of robot motion data for controlling a robot's motions so that it may be employed for work, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for providing robot motion data that reflects environmental information so as to allow the robot to work adaptively to changes in its work environment.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior or existing industrial robots have simply determined accurate work positions or work paths and merely repeated the same task, but as the production system is changing into a small quantity batch production system, a need for robots to work adaptively to various changes in the work environment is growing.
There are mainly two methods for controlling robot motions so that the robot can work adaptively to changes in its environment.
One method is explicit programming by which a programmer manually programs each motion, and another method is programming by demonstration—a technique in which an instructor teaches a robot by demonstrating actions.
In the former method, a considerable amount of time must be invested in order to control the robot's motions, and reprogramming is needed even for a slight change in the robot's task, thus deeming it inefficient. However, due to the lack of alternative methods available in the industrial application, such programming is still being used.
In the latter method, more intuitive control of robot motions is available and a definition of the robot's work is abstracted and then stored, and hence a slight change in the robot's task does not entail reprogramming. However, it is not easy to build a body of knowledge to define the work, nor is it easy to achieve a level of reliability sufficient to be used in industrial application, which is why the method of programming by demonstration is generally employed for service robots. Adaptability to variations in the environment is very important, especially for the service robots that work in atypical work environments.